Tales of a lady in love with food

The Troll’s Pantry

The Troll’s Pantry – Burgers of Legends

In the ever-growing market of gourmet burgers, one name I keep hearing as a must-try is The Troll’s Pantry. Now a resident at the Hobgoblin pub on York Place it has grown from its early days as a small pop-up trailer behind Brighton University. Eshé remembers visiting it there years ago and being blown away with the flavour of the beef from one of its simplest burgers. However, since then, both Coggins & Co and Burger Brothers have both flourished in the city; so last weekend we decided to pop down and see how it measured up against these favourites.

The website teases the taste buds with a host of tantalising beef burgers all made from Sussex grass-fed cattle, with all ingredients, where possible, sourced locally. There’s also a good selection of vegetarian and vegan patties fried in a high-grade, single state olive oil.

I went for The Imperial – £9.50, described as ‘a classic American burger with a Sussex twist’, the twist being the local St Giles artisan cheese. Eshé chose The Unholy Knight, a build your own beef patty to which she added roasted tomato ketchup £8. Neither of us opted for any of the selection of ‘Fries of Champions’, made from Sussex grown potatoes and hand cut with the skin left on and a variety of toppings ranging from £3 – £7.50.

The burgers took about 25 minutes to arrive, a good sign that all was cooked from scratch and were wrapped simply in the style of a classic fast food joint.

The Troll’s Pantry

The orange brioche was sweet tasting and sauce oozed out as I picked the burger up – removing the pickled baby cucumbers. I know they are part of the traditional American style burger but I have never understood the need.

The Imperial Burger

The meat was undoubtedly of a high quality; juicy, tender and well seasoned. The salad was fresh but not too overloaded and the mix of the roasted ketchup and the APA mustard worked really well, though did seem to overpower the taste of the cheese in The Imperial burger somewhat.

The Unholy Knight Burger

Our patties were also served well done, as instructed by the Environmental Health Organisation. If you’re interested in understanding why you shouldn’t eat rare beef burgers, have a read of this FAQ with the Troll’s Pantry Chef.

The Verdict

From a quality perspective there was nothing to fault, though the quarter pound burger did seem rather small and unlike when I eat a Burger Brothers burger I had wished we’d ordered some fries to share. The quality did just about represent value, as they were not particularly cheap.

I would still rank Burger Brothers as the best burger in town, but The Trolls’ Pantry is up there with the top contenders and when the sun does start to shine there are worse places than The Hobgoblin’s large outdoor area to while away an afternoon with friends.

RATING: 4/5PRICE: £17.50

NEED TO KNOW:

The Troll’s Pantry uses small local farms that practice the highest standards of animal welfare and operates a zero waste kitchen policy.

About Me

Hello, I'm Eshé - a food-obsessed blogger from Brighton and in 2017 I was featured on The Hairy Bikers on BBC One. Every day of my life revolves around finding or making good food, and if you follow me, you'll soon see I make it my mission to seek out all the best places to eat.

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Foodie Eshé is a Brighton food blog and insider’s guide to where to eat across Brighton & Hove, with a focus on independent restaurants. On my blog you’ll find honest reviews of restaurants, cafes, supper clubs, takeaways and pop-up restaurants in Sussex and further afield when I travel. As well as all the latest news on the new openings.

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